Looking at the nutritional facts on an egg carton, I see that one medium sized egg satisfies 71% of the daily nutritional requirements for cholesterol. Many bodybuilders eat up to a dozen of eggs per day, putting them well over the suggested amount of cholesterol. For example, Jay Cutler eats 2 whole eggs and 10 egg whites for breakfast. This puts him at 142% the suggested cholesterol, if we're being conservative and assuming most of the cholesterol is in the yolk. His 4 other meals throughout the day will put him even more over the limit. If you're an active person like Jay Cutler, can you safely consume more than the suggested daily requirements for cholesterol without damaging the heart? Does exercising flush out cholesterol at many magnitudes faster than being sedentary?

+1 Id like to know this too as I've been eating 4 eggs some days for a while.
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rmxJun 30 '11 at 10:19

All the cholesterol is in the yolk. That's why Jay limits himself to 2. 12 would probably be unhealthy, even for an active person.
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Jeremy SteinJun 30 '11 at 13:32

"Normal plasma cholesterol in an 88-year-old man who eats 25 eggs a day" New England journal of medicine (28 Mar 1991). I think 12 seems like a lot, and therefore would be bad, but I'm not sure there is any research to back up what seems like common sense.
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michaelJun 30 '11 at 14:02

2 Answers
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Recent research has moved away from total cholesterol counts to pay attention to good HDL, neutral LDL, bad LDL and triglycerides. It has been found that some foods with high cholesterol raise the total cholesterol number, but they do it in ways that are not bad (raising large LDL and HDL). Other foods with low or no cholesterol (sugars), raise the bad LDL cholesterol and suppress HDL.

The lack of connection between heart disease and egg intake could partially be explained by the fact that dietary cholesterol increases the concentrations of both circulating LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in those individuals who experience an increase in plasma cholesterol following egg consumption (hyperresponders). It is also important to note that 70% of the population experiences a mild increase or no alterations in plasma cholesterol concentrations when challenged with high amounts of dietary cholesterol (hyporesponders). Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL, in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic.

It is important to note that the end goal is not cholesterol numbers, but heart disease avoidance. The first sentence in that abstract tells the tale: there is not a connection between eggs and heart disease.